PURPOSE: To know biomechanical differences in methods of limb lengthening between using monolateral external fixator and using external fixator over an intramedullary nail. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In acryl rods, saw-bone, and cadeveric bone, we created two lengthening models of using monolateral external fixator and using external fixator over an intramedullary nail. The axial compression test was done on the site of osteotomy for lengthening. To fix the models, half pins of 5 mm in diameter and nails of 9 mm in diameter were used. Using MTS (Material Test System) machine, we evaluated the differences of axial stiffness according to the presence of an intramedullary nail or the numbers of half-pins which were fixed at each side of osteotomy. RESULTS: Lengthening over an intramedullary nail, comparing to monolateral external fixator only, increased the axial stiffness by 1.1~1.2 times in acryl rods, 1.2~1.6 times in saw bones, and 15.6~15.9 times in cadeveric bones when the same numbers of half-pins were used. In saw bone and cadaveric bone, the group of two half pins in lengthening over an intramedullary nail was stiffer than the group of three pins in lengthening with monolateral external fixator. CONCLUSION: In the distraction of the limb, the addition of an intramedullary nail may increase the axial stiffness of the frame of monolateral external fixator. In lengthening over an intramedullary nail, it is enough to distract the bone with fixing two half pins at each sides of osteotomy.
Cadaver ; External Fixators* ; Extremities ; Osteotomy

Attention appears to be inheritable, stable and influenced by genetic factors. The use of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), as an endophenotypic measure, is valuable for genetic studies because it may show increased sensitivity to specific dimensions in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, few studies have been designed to examine the influence of the genotype on attention level measured by CPT in ADHD patients. This study examinee the difference between 10/10 and 10/* genotype in the attention deficits measured by the CPT in ADHD patients. Forty-four unrelated ADHD patients were recruited from the psychiatric outpatients' clinic at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital. Two child psychiatrists made the diagnoses of ADHD using the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. The genomic DNA was extracted from the blood, and analyzed to determine the genotype. A 40-base pair variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in the 3' untranslated region was amplified. The attention deficits were measured by the test of variables of attention (T.O.V.A.). Between the 10/10 genotype and 10/* genotype, standard scores of the T.O.V.A were compared using a Mann-Whiney test. A comparison with the 10/10 genotype and 10/* genotype showed that those patients with the 10/10 genotype made less omission errors in the first quarter of the test (p < 0.05, by Mann-Whiney test). No significant differences were observed in the errors of commission, response time, variability. This study found that the 10/10 genotype made less omission errors on the T.O.V.A. This suggests that the dopamine transporter genotype influences the attention deficits measured by T.O.V.A.
3' Untranslated Regions/genetics ; Alleles ; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/*genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Genotype ; Human ; Male ; Membrane Transport Proteins/*genetics ; Minisatellite Repeats

PURPOSE: It is now understood that blood pressure (BP) measurement in the routine pediatric examination is very important because of the relevance of childhood BP to pediatric health care and the development of adult essential hypertension. There hasn't been a reference table of BP for Korean children and adolescents up to now. This study was to make normative BP references and to provide criteria of hypertension for Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: BP measurements were done on 57,433 Koean children and adolescents (male: 29,443, female: 27,990), paged 7 to 20 years, in 2005. Heights and weights were measured simultaneously. Oscillometric devices, Dinamap Procare 200 (GE Inc., Milwaukee, Wi, USA), were used for the measurements. BPs were measured 2 times and mean levels were gathered for the analysis. Outliers of 2,373 subjects with overweight per height, over +3SD, were excluded for the analysis. For the BP centiles adjusted by sex, age and height, fixed modified LMS method which was adopted from the mixed effect model of 2004 Task Force in NHLBI (USA) was used. RESULTS: Normative BP tables for Korean children and adolescents adjusted for height percentiles (5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th), gender (male, female) and age(7 to 18 years) were completed. Height centiles of Korean children and adolescents are available from Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention homepage, http://www.cdc.go.kr/webcdc/. Criteria of hypertension (95th, 99th percentile) and normal range of BP (50th, 90th) adjusted for height percentiles, age and gender were made. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to make normative BP tables and define hypertension for the Korean children and adolescents. Reliability and accuracy of Dinamap Procare 200 oscillometer for BP measurements remains debatable.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Advisory Committees ; Blood Pressure ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Child ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Hypertension ; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.) ; Overweight ; Reference Values ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: This study was to provide the methods of developing the growth charts and the blood pressure nomogram among Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: The growth charts were developed based on the data from the national growth surveys for children and adolescents in 1998 and 2005. The percentile charts were developed through two stages. At the first stage, the selected empirical charts were smoothed through several fitting procedures including parametric and non-parametric methods. At the second stage, a modified LMS (lambda, mu, sigma) statistical procedure was applied to the smoothed percentile charts. The LMS procedure allowed to estimate any percentile and to calculate standard deviation units and z-scores. The charts for weight-for-age, height-for-age, BMI-for-age, weight-for-height and head circumference-for-age were developed by sex. Age and normalized height controlled sex-specific nomograms of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were developed by a fixed effect model of general regression using the data from 2005 national growth survey. RESULTS: The significant systemic differences between the percentiles of growth charts and the empirical data were not found. The final output of the study is available from Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention homepage, http://www.cdc.go.kr/webcdc/. Blood Pressure nomogram was tabulated by height percentiles and age using the regression coefficients analyzed with regression model. CONCLUSION: 2007 growth charts and blood pressure nomogram were the first products based on the statistical modeling using the national survey data. The further study on the methodology including data collection, data cleaning and statistical modeling for representative growth charts would be needed.
Adolescent ; Blood Pressure ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Child ; Data Collection ; Growth Charts ; Head ; Humans ; Models, Statistical ; Nomograms

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of fluoxetine (Prozac) on membrane potential and ionic currents in RINm5F insulinoma cells. METHODS: Membrane potential and ionic currents in RINm5F cell were recorded by using whole-cell and perforated-patch clamp techniques. RESULTS: Under current clamp conditions, diazoxide (200 microM), an activator of K ATP channels, induced a hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential (-16.1+/-1.4 mV, n=), which was accompanied by a abolition of action potential firing. This diazoxide-induced hyperpolarization was blocked by glibenclamide (10 microM). Fluoxetine produced significant depolarization of membrane potential (15.9+/-3.1 mV, n=) and blocked diazoxide-induced hyperpolarization. Diazoxide activated inward currents in the presence of high external K + (90 mM) at a holding potential of -60 mV. Fluoxetine suppressed diazoxide-activated currents in a concentration-dependent (IC 50 =.84 microM) manner. However, the inhibitory action of fluoxetine was not specific to K ATP currents because it also inhibited both voltage-activated K + and Ca 2+ currents in a concentration-dependent manner. K ATP currents were more sensitive to fluoxetine block than both voltage-activated K + and Ca 2+ currents. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that fluoxetine increased excitability of RINm5F cells mainly by the preferential block of K ATP currents. Fluoxetine-induced depolarization may influence insulin secretion in insulinoma cells.
Action Potentials ; Adenosine Triphosphate ; Diazoxide ; Fires ; Fluoxetine* ; Glyburide ; Insulin ; Insulinoma* ; Membrane Potentials* ; Membranes*

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to provide current estimates of the prevalence and examine trends of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. METHODS: Height and weight measurements from 183,159 (112,974 in 1997, 70,185 in 2005) children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years were obtained via the 1997 and 2005 National Growth Survey. Obesity among children and adolescents was defined as being at or above the 95th percentile of the gender-specific body mass index (BMI) for age in the 2007 Korean National Growth Charts or a BMI of 25 or higher; overweight was defined as being at or above the 85th percentile to less than the 95th percentile BMI. RESULTS: In 2005, 9.7% (11.3% for boys, 8.0% for girls) of South Korean children and adolescents were obese; 19.0% (19.7% for boys, 18.2% for girls) were overweight or obese. The overall prevalence of obesity increased from 5.8% in 1997 to 9.7% in 2005 (from 6.1% in 1997 to 11.3% in 2005 for boys and from 5.5% in 1997 to 8.0% in 2005 for girls); the increasing trend was most evident in boys, especially those aged 13-18 years. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents increased significantly during the eight-year period from 1997 to 2005. This study suggests that we need to make a priority of developing strategies to control obesity in children and adolescents; the potential health effects of increases in obesity are of considerable public health importance.
Adolescent ; Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Child ; Growth Charts ; Humans ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Prevalence ; Public Health

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to provide current estimates of the prevalence and examine trends of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. METHODS: Height and weight measurements from 183,159 (112,974 in 1997, 70,185 in 2005) children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years were obtained via the 1997 and 2005 National Growth Survey. Obesity among children and adolescents was defined as being at or above the 95th percentile of the gender-specific body mass index (BMI) for age in the 2007 Korean National Growth Charts or a BMI of 25 or higher; overweight was defined as being at or above the 85th percentile to less than the 95th percentile BMI. RESULTS: In 2005, 9.7% (11.3% for boys, 8.0% for girls) of South Korean children and adolescents were obese; 19.0% (19.7% for boys, 18.2% for girls) were overweight or obese. The overall prevalence of obesity increased from 5.8% in 1997 to 9.7% in 2005 (from 6.1% in 1997 to 11.3% in 2005 for boys and from 5.5% in 1997 to 8.0% in 2005 for girls); the increasing trend was most evident in boys, especially those aged 13-18 years. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents increased significantly during the eight-year period from 1997 to 2005. This study suggests that we need to make a priority of developing strategies to control obesity in children and adolescents; the potential health effects of increases in obesity are of considerable public health importance.
Adolescent ; Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Child ; Growth Charts ; Humans ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Prevalence ; Public Health

PURPOSE: Since 1967, The Korean Pediatric Society and Korean Government have developed Korean Growth Standards every 10 years. Last version was published in 1998. During past 40 years, Korean Growth Standards were mainly descriptive charts without any systematic nor statistical standardization. With the global epidemic of obesity, many authorities such as World Health Organization (WHO) and United States' Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have been changed their principles of growth charts to cope with the situations like ours. This article summarizes and reviews the whole developmental process of new 2007 Korean Growth Charts with discussion. METHODS: With the initiative of Division of Chronic Disease Surveillance in Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we have performed new national survey for the development of new Standards in 2005 and identified marked increase of childhood obesity and plateau of secular increment of final height in late adolescents. We have developed new Growth Standards via adapting several innovative methods, including standardization of all available raw data, which were acquired in 1997 and 2005 national survey and full application of LMS method. RESULTS: We could get new standardized charts; weight-for-age, length/height-for-age, weight-for-height, head circumference-for-age and BMI-for-age. Other non-standardized charts based on 2005 survey data were also published; waist circumference-for-age, mid-arm circumference-for-age, chest circumference-for-age and skinfold-for-age. Clinical guideline was also developed. CONCLUSION: Developmental process and results of new Korean Growth Charts are comparable with other internationally well-known Growth Standards, WHO 2006 Growth Standards and CDC Growth Charts. 2007 Korean Growth Charts are relevant especially in Korea and Korean ethnic groups.
Adolescent ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Chronic Disease ; Ethnic Groups ; Growth Charts ; Head ; Humans ; Korea ; Obesity ; Phosphatidylethanolamines ; Thorax ; World Health Organization